President Donald Trump campaigned for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton in Corpus Christi and Lubbock, Texas, on Tuesday, while Democratic rival James Talarico held a rally in Lubbock a week before the midterm elections.
Trump criticized Talarico at both rallies on issues including immigration and the Second Amendment. In Lubbock, he accused Talarico of wanting to eliminate guns and oil. Talarico has said he supports the Second Amendment while advocating gun control.
Talarico’s Lubbock rally was three miles from Trump’s. The Democrat criticized the Trump administration over tariffs and the Iran war, and accused Paxton of corruption. Paxton has never been convicted of a crime; he has faced criminal indictments, federal investigations and impeachment as Texas attorney general and was acquitted in the impeachment proceedings.
Real Clear Polling rates the Senate race a toss-up and shows Talarico with a slight lead. No Democrat has won a U.S. Senate race in Texas since 1988, and Trump won the state by nearly 14 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election.